Sigrid Thornton takes on new role for CinefestOz

Camera IconSigrid Thornton heads west to take up new role as jury chair for this year’s CinefestOz Film Festival.

A vivacious star of the stage, TV and film, Sigrid Thornton’s illustrious career began when she was a child and has gone on to span more than 40 years.

She’s starred in many memorable Aussie movies, including director Bruce Beresford’s The Getting of Wisdom (1977), George Miller’s The Man From Snowy River (1982) and Simon Wincer’s The Lighthorsemen (1987).

On the small screen, her roles include classic TV series Prisoner and its current reimagining Wentworth, SeaChange, MDA and The Code as well as mini-series All the Rivers Run and Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door. She won the AACTA award for best guest or supporting actress in a television drama for her portrayal of Judy Garland in Not the Boy Next Door.

Thornton tread the boards with Anthony Warlow in Fiddler on the Roof and A Little Night Music, and her performance of Blanche Du Bois in Black Swan State Theatre Company’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire garnered rave reviews. Her 2014 appearance in Tennessee Williams’ play as the emotionally charged Blanche was her last professional role in Perth.

Camera IconSigrid Thornton Credit: Jennifer Stenglein

Next month, she’s heading back west to take up a completely new role as jury chair for this year’s CinefestOz Film Festival. Along with four other members of the film industry, she will award the $100,000 prize established to reward excellence in Australian filmmaking.

It will be the first time Thornton has been to the festival and also her first trip to the South West, where the five-day event is based.

“Its reputation goes before it,” she says of the festival over the phone.

“I mean, I really am that keen. I’m most sincere when I say I’ve got a number of friends in the industry who are now into the festival and they all say ‘Look, you’ve got to go, it’s so much fun and so friendly and such an incredible environment in which to see film’.”

As head judge of the Busselton-based festival, which is in its 11th year, Thornton is excited about the diversity in filmmaking.

“I think what we actually have is a really interesting and a diverse mix of stories being told,” she says.

Camera IconSigrid Thornton with David Wenham in an episode of ABC TV’s SeaChange from 1998. Credit: ABC 2

“Not only that, we also have, for the very first time, really a seed of a true indigenous filmmaking culture, feature filmmaking culture ... we are also seeing an indigenous star system begin to emerge, which is really wonderful to see and it’s long overdue.”

Thornton thinks filmmaking is about creating something different and the list of the four finalists for the film prize is a reflection of this belief.

Among the contenders are WA-made film 1%, which explores the inner workings of an outlaw motorcycle club; Ladies in Black, a comedy- drama set in the summer of 1959 about the lives of female department store employees; The Merger, a regional football comedy paired with the issue of the refugee crisis; and Jirga, which tells the story of a former Australian soldier who is seeking redemption from the family of a civilian he accidentally killed.

During her illustrious career, Thornton has had a firsthand insight into how the Australian TV and film industry has developed to where it is today.

“The film industry has grown enormously and it’s been through various cycles and out the other side and into a new one several times over,” she says. “I’ve managed through thick and thin and through great good fortune to have experienced real longevity in my career and to have stuck around through all of that.”

Camera IconSigrid Thornton in a scene from the 1982 film The Man From Snowy River.

Thornton thinks her upbringing made her better prepared than most to take on roles in a traditionally male-dominated industry.

“There’s a definite kind of a feeling of optimism for change and women for change right now and that’s terrifically heartening and encouraging,” she says.

“However, I always like to remind myself that I was fortunate enough to be raised by a radical feminist in the early women’s liberation ... who was railing against a lack of opportunity, which a lot of young women today wouldn’t even be aware was so acute.

“I was very fortunate in that and I didn’t think about it in these terms then but nevertheless it was true. So I was able to pursue excellence and go after being the very best version of myself as a performer regardless of my sex.”

Whether it was a role she missed out on or one that didn’t go quite to plan, it is not in Thornton’s nature to look back with regret.

“There’s been some really challenging experiences, I couldn’t deny that, it’s not possible,” she says. “It’s pretty difficult to be alive on the planet for these years without having had some really challenging periods in life but I think that whatever difficult work experience I’ve had has been the greatest learning period as well.”

Cinefest Oz is on from August 22-26. Don’t miss the full program in The Weekend West on July 28.